Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets beat the Miami Marlins 9-4 Tuesday night at loanDepot park, taking the first of three from the last-place team.

The team won on a mix of opportune hits (of the ball and themselves), though many of the opportunities were born of Marlins gaffes. Pete Alonso opened the scoring, though, with nothing but his own brute strength.

Alonso launched his 100th career home run–and 31st of the year–in the first inning on a 98 m.p.h. fastball up in the zone. The ball went 425 feet, and it put the Mets up 2-0 before Carlos Carrasco could take the mound.

After that, the Marlins yo-yoed back to tie at two after three straight singles in the first and a butcher boy by Marlins starter Edward Cabrera. (The run that came around to score was on base due to an error by Francisco Lindor.)

But then Cabrera handed the Mets a couple runs right back with three straight walks to load the bases in the top of the third, then two straight hit-by-pitches off the bodies of Michael Conforto and Javier Báez to put the Mets up two again. But just as the Nationals did last weekend, the Marlins fought back, scoring two more runs in the bottom of the third after Jonathan Villar catalyzed a second-and-third, one-out situation with a throwing error. A sac fly and double later, the game was tied again at four.

Carrasco was able to keep the Mets in it despite their shaky defense, though, enough so that the Mets finally took the lead as Carrasco’s night finished after after the bottom of the fifth.

The Marlins loaded the bases for the Mets on an error and a walk, this time in the top of the sixth. Villar hit a sure-fire double play ball to Jazz Chisholm, but he booted it, allowing the leading run to score. Francisco Lindor made them pay with a single in the next at-bat to put the Mets up for good at 7-4.

Carrasco reached five innings for just the third time in eight starts with the Mets. Though his control wasn’t pinpoint (he got to multiple two-ball counts and hung his share of sliders and change ups in the middle of the zone), Carracso was able to fight through defensive miscues to get himself in line for his first win as a Met. He didn’t allow a home run for just the third time in eight starts, too.

The final three-and-half innings moved along a lot quicker than the first six, which took nearly three hours. This was in part due to shutdown innings from Aaron Loup, Trevor May, Brad Hand and Miguel Castro. The four combined to allow just four base runners in the final four frames for Marlins hitters.

Pete Alonso wasn’t done yet, either, smacking his 101st career home run in the ninth an inning after J.D. Davis gave the Mets an 8-4 lead on a pinch-hit RBI double.

Rich Hill (6-6, 3.92) will look to piggyback off his best start as a Met Wednesday night when he faces the Marlins. Hill tossed six shutout innings Friday against the Nationals, but the Mets blew the lead in the ninth inning, taking Hill’s win away. (They won in extras.) The lefty opened his Mets career against the Marlins at loanDepot park, allowing an unearned run in five innings.

He’ll face off against Sandy Alcantara (8-13, 3.36), who gave up four runs to the Mets in 6 1/3 innings last week. It was just the fifth time in 28 starts Alcantara gave up at least four earned runs in a start this season. The Marlins hope Miguel Rojas–a known Met killer–will be able to return to the lineup Wednesday, too.

Player of the Game

Pete Alonso gets these honors. He went 2-for-4 with two homers, three RBI and a walk, crossing the century mark in home runs in the process.

The two home runs were his 100th and 101st dingers of his career, and he sits at 32 home runs and 84 RBI on the year. He’s just four home runs behind Fernando Tatis Jr., who leads the National League. And don’t look now, but his OPS is rapidly approaching .900, which would place him in the top 10 in the NL.